On February 7th an enormous gun, throwing a 96 lb.

shell, opened from Kamfersdam, which is four miles from the centre of the town.

The shells, following the evil precedent of the Germans in 1870, were fired not at the forts, but into the thickly populated city.

Day and night these huge missiles exploded, shattering the houses and occasionally killing or maiming the occupants.
Some thousands of the women and children were conveyed down the mines, where, in the electric-lighted tunnels, they lay in comfort and safety.
One surprising revenge the Boers had, for by an extraordinary chance one of the few men killed by their gun was the ingenious Labram who had constructed the 28-pounder.

By an even more singular chance, Leon, who was responsible for bringing the big Boer gun, was struck immediately afterwards by a long-range rifle-shot from the garrison.
The historian must be content to give a tame account of the siege of Kimberley, for the thing itself was tame.